A leopard in my footsteps

19/3/2010

Last Saturday morning (13/3/2010), I set out with Tuli to check my three remote cameras just beyond the southern boundary of the Garden Route National Park. Not 300 meters from the third camera, I found tracks of a leopard heading northwards. After doing the usual data collecting, measurement of spoor, GPS coordinates, estimation of time of spoor (approximately 12 hours old), I continued also northwards for a while. I lost the tracks eventually when the leopard entered the edge of the forests. I returned the way I had come, and after an hour and a half, I was on the last section on the route to my cabin. Image my surprise when I suddenly saw fresh tracks of another leopard over my boot marks where Tuli and I had been walking three hours before! In fact though, this is about the fourth time in the last three years that I have had fresh leopard tracks superimposed over my tracks in that area. See the photos here of the fresh leopard tracks and of Tuli beside them. The leopard tracks in the photograph are just above her head in the background. Though Tuli is still young, she certainly is aware and alert whenever we come across fresh signs of these big cats. Usually I have her on her lead, but when not, she stays very close by. (Hope those of you who have watched the youtube interview on the home page enjoyed seeing Tuli's screen debut! Here is the link for those of you who have not watched the interview yet -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLcV3w-X5K4 )